A Day Trip to Fremantle

· Australia,Markets

Fremantle (or Freo) is a town located not that far away from Perth, making it the perfect place for a day trip. Saturdays and Sundays, the market is on, so we decided to go then.

We started our Saturday a little later, leaving Perth around 10 am. It's an easy journey, lasting about 45mins, simply take the Fremantle train line from Perth Station to the terminal station (about $4.00.)

Our first stop was the Fremantle Markets, a small, but nicely kept place. There are two parts: the yard and the hall. The hall features dress shops, coffee, a few restaurants on the outer walls, body products, massage, boomerangs and even a bar is located in one corner. The yard is more food-centered. There is fresh produce, as well as ready to eat meals. I enjoyed a great paella from one vendor, kangaroo jerky from another, as well as many fruit samples.

After a couple of hours at the market, we were shopped out and full of snacks, we looked around for what to do next. We decided to give the Fremantle prison a try. The tours cost $19 (there are two different ones, and a discount if you want to do both.) They're the only way to see the inner workings of the jail. I've done a few prison tours in the past, but this one was unique because while it was built in 1860, it was still open until 1991. First, it was a convict era prison, later taking on criminals. Not much changed in it's run (when it closed in 1991, prisoners were still using toilet buckets in their rooms. Regular toilets were only located in the yard.) I definitely recommend taking a look, if you want to learn more about the local history. Another fun fact, you can have your wedding there, they were setting up for one as we took our tour!

Walking back through town we stopped at Bather's Beach, a white sand beach near the center of town. It's a nice spot for a light swim or to dip your toes in. Not much of a surfer's area. There are a lot of fish and chips restaurants to the left of the beach. With only an hour and a half until sunset, we decided to go get some dinner there. The fish was pretty good, the venue we went to had a fish and chips flavored gelato as well, but I wasn't feeling brave enough to try that.

After our dinner, we took in the pleasure of the sunset over the Indian ocean, back at Bather's Beach. It's been a while since I had such a relaxing evening. After the sun went down, it was time to head back to Perth for us.